Ireland's two main governing parties looked on course to return to power as polls opened on Friday, thanks to a giveaway October budget and a loss of momentum by opposition Sinn Fein - a result that would buck a global trend of voters rejecting incumbents.

Promises made by the Sinn Fein pro-Irish unity party to tackle a housing and cost-of-living crisis and stop young people leaving the country have bolstered its popularity ahead of a

People in Ireland are going to the polls Friday, as the country holds a general election to fill 174 seats in the Dail Eireann or lower house, the principal chamber of the country's parliament, the Oireachtas.

Ireland is voting Friday in a parliamentary election that will decide the next government — and will show whether Ireland bucks the global trend of incumbents being ousted by disgruntled voters after years of pandemic,